Years ago, Indigenous theatre was little-known. Today, plays are being produced across the country

Unreserved53:59Indigenous playwrights take centre stage

It might be hard to imagine that well-known playwright Tomson Highway once had to pull people off the street to get an audience. 

But that is how the Cree writer’s award-winning play The Rez Sisters — which explores the lives and hopes of seven women from a fictional reserve on Manitoulin Island — started out. The play premiered in November 1986 at the Native Canadian Centre of Toronto to what could have been an empty theatre.

“Nobody knew about Native theatre, about Tomson whatsoever,” said Anishinaabe playwright and author Drew Hayden Taylor. 

“During the first week, Tomson and the arts